1 00:00:01,389 --> 00:00:07,290 As you know, ethics is the part of philosophy that tries to answer questions about morality. 2 00:00:08,269 --> 00:00:14,349 Ethics tries to give an explanation about how we should behave, what is right and what is wrong. 3 00:00:14,849 --> 00:00:20,429 In order to give us an explanation, ethics creates theories. 4 00:00:21,289 --> 00:00:30,050 An ethical theory is a particular explanation, a vision, about what is right, what is wrong, what we should do, how we should behave. 5 00:00:30,789 --> 00:00:37,450 Maybe you remember that in previous years we have studied the ethical theories of Epicurus, 6 00:00:37,750 --> 00:00:45,350 Aristotle, and John Stuart Mill. Let's briefly revise them. Epicurus had an hedonistic theory 7 00:00:45,350 --> 00:00:53,070 because he thought that what is good, it produces pleasure, and what is bad is what creates pain, 8 00:00:53,070 --> 00:00:59,469 suffering. So we should behave trying to create as much pleasure as possible. 9 00:01:00,049 --> 00:01:06,129 Remember, though, that Epicurus didn't think about pleasures like eating or sleeping all day. 10 00:01:06,390 --> 00:01:13,069 He was thinking about avoiding suffering, for example, avoiding fear and living in peace. 11 00:01:14,469 --> 00:01:18,430 Aristotle, on the other hand, had a eudaimonic theory. 12 00:01:19,290 --> 00:01:24,670 This means that the main goal of life for Aristotle was to achieve happiness. 13 00:01:24,670 --> 00:01:31,329 Aristotle thought that happiness could be achieved practicing virtue, which consists 14 00:01:31,329 --> 00:01:38,609 in always choosing the middle ground between two extremes. Extremes are bad, Aristotle thought. 15 00:01:39,069 --> 00:01:45,329 They are vices. They won't make you happy. You have to find the middle ground between an excess 16 00:01:45,329 --> 00:01:53,189 and a defect. Not too much, not too little. The middle point, that is virtue. If you get used to 17 00:01:53,189 --> 00:01:59,670 practice in virtue, you will become a virtuous person, your character will change, and you will 18 00:01:59,670 --> 00:02:08,860 be happy. That's what Aristotle thought. John Stuart Mill created the utilitarian ethical theory. 19 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:17,539 Utilitarianism says that an action is good when it produces pleasure, like Epicurus thought, 20 00:02:17,539 --> 00:02:27,740 But Mill considered that pleasure should be calculated, taking into account what each person feels. 21 00:02:28,139 --> 00:02:32,879 So it's not about my personal pleasure, it is about everybody. 22 00:02:33,599 --> 00:02:45,360 So whenever you're going to do something, Mill says, you should take into account how much pleasure is that action going to produce in other people and how much pain. 23 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:49,199 Are people going to be happy or unhappy with your action? 24 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:54,099 Your action is morally correct if it maximizes happiness, 25 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:58,819 or, as Neil said, if it maximizes utility. 26 00:03:00,020 --> 00:03:04,120 This brief revision of Epicurean hedonism, 27 00:03:05,039 --> 00:03:09,159 Aristotelian eudaimonism, and utilitarianism 28 00:03:09,159 --> 00:03:12,699 could be a good starting point to talk about 29 00:03:12,699 --> 00:03:20,319 the difference between material ethical theories and formal ethical theories. Not all ethical 30 00:03:20,319 --> 00:03:28,800 theories are equal. Some ethical theories give you an objective in life. They tell you what to do. 31 00:03:29,479 --> 00:03:36,240 They consider that human life has a supreme goal, a very important thing, that we should strive 32 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:45,620 to achieve. If we achieve it, then that is correct and that is moral. So, good actions, 33 00:03:45,819 --> 00:03:52,599 actions that we should do, are those that take us closer to this basic human objective. 34 00:03:53,699 --> 00:04:00,819 As you will probably have guessed, the three theories that I previously explained, they are 35 00:04:00,819 --> 00:04:08,699 all of them material, because they give you an objective in life. For Epicurus, the objective 36 00:04:08,699 --> 00:04:16,120 is pleasure, individual pleasure. For Aristotle, it is happiness. For Mill, it is utility, 37 00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:25,420 social happiness. So they are material ethical theories. They are also material because they 38 00:04:25,420 --> 00:04:31,540 have a content. They tell you the rules. As you would probably remember, Epicurus gave you the 39 00:04:31,540 --> 00:04:38,639 rules. He thought that if you want to be happy with a lot of pleasure, you should behave in a 40 00:04:38,639 --> 00:04:44,959 certain way. You should, for example, avoid extremes. You should avoid eating too much or 41 00:04:44,959 --> 00:04:50,220 drinking too much because in the long run that will make you suffer. For example, if you don't 42 00:04:50,220 --> 00:04:56,040 have money to buy that. So he thought that a simple moderate life would make you happier, 43 00:04:56,459 --> 00:05:01,579 would give you more pleasure in the long run. So he's giving you the rule that you should follow 44 00:05:01,579 --> 00:05:09,959 if you want to achieve the great goal of achieving pleasure. For Aristotle it's the same. He said 45 00:05:09,959 --> 00:05:15,879 practice virtue, choose the middle point if you want to be happy because that's the great goal 46 00:05:15,879 --> 00:05:25,800 human life. And Mill has the same theory. He gave you the rules because he thought that you should 47 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:34,000 always choose what makes the maximum number of people happy. Now, what is the problem with 48 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:41,139 material ethical theories? Remember, material ethical theories have an objective. So what 49 00:05:41,139 --> 00:05:48,379 happens if I don't agree with the objective? Then the rules they give me are not valid for me. 50 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:55,920 They make no sense. If I am not interested in achieving happiness, the theory of Aristotle is 51 00:05:55,920 --> 00:06:01,000 not for me, because he is giving me rules to achieve an objective that is not relevant to me. 52 00:06:01,660 --> 00:06:07,980 That's why we say that material theories are hypothetical, because they are only valid if you 53 00:06:07,980 --> 00:06:17,680 accept the final goal that the philosopher is proposing. And these material theories have 54 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:26,379 another problem. The problem is that as they give you the rules they are heteronymous. The word 55 00:06:26,379 --> 00:06:33,199 heteronymous means that you don't make the rules by yourself. The rules are already made. They 56 00:06:33,199 --> 00:06:40,040 depend on the objective. That's why some philosophers criticize material ethical 57 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:47,000 theories and try to create a different way to explain what is right, what is 58 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:53,300 wrong, what we should do. These different theories are called formal ethical 59 00:06:53,300 --> 00:06:59,279 theories. Formal ethical theories don't give you an objective, they don't have a 60 00:06:59,279 --> 00:07:07,199 content they don't give you the rules they place the focus on autonomy so for 61 00:07:07,199 --> 00:07:12,180 these theories it is very important that you make your own rules and that you 62 00:07:12,180 --> 00:07:17,699 choose your own goals they are called formal ethical theories because these 63 00:07:17,699 --> 00:07:21,560 theories are not telling you the material content of what is right or 64 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:31,819 run, they are only putting emphasis on how the rules that you autonomously create, how these 65 00:07:31,819 --> 00:07:39,879 rules should be created. For a formal ethical theory, the key point is how should we make 66 00:07:39,879 --> 00:07:48,339 autonomously the moral rules so that they are valid. In a formal ethical theory, you make your 67 00:07:48,339 --> 00:07:55,600 own rules. But not all rules are okay. There are some rules that are valid, others that are not. 68 00:07:56,319 --> 00:08:03,800 Well, the formal ethical theory tells you how to create these rules of your own 69 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:07,740 so that they are moral, they are valid, they are acceptable.